Zhejiang

Zhejiang, Wade-Giles romanization Che-chiang, conventional Chekiang, sheng (province) of southeastern China. It is one of the smallest province-level political units of China, but it is also one of the most densely populated and affluent. A coastal province, it is bounded by the East China Sea to the east, by the provinces of Fujian to the south, Jiangxi to the southwest, Anhui to the west, and Jiangsu to the north, and by Shanghai municipality to the northeast. The provincial capital is Hangzhou.

Zhejiang has for many centuries been one of the great cultural and literary centres of China. Its landscape is renowned for its scenic beauty. The name of the province derives from its principal river—known as the Fuchun River inland and the Qiantang River at the estuary of Hangzhou Bay but historically called the Zhe Jiang (“Crooked River”). Zhejiang is among the leading Chinese provinces in farm productivity and leads in the production of tea and in fishing. Area 39,300 square miles (101,800 square km). Pop. (2020) 64,567,588.